Ben Baker
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benbaker.bsky.social
Ben Baker
@benbaker.bsky.social
Writer. Podcaster. Splainer.

Buy my pop culture books here: https://linktr.ee/BenBakerBooks

Someone is apparently using my ID to scam people so please be wary. I am always wary.
Reading through an old issue of Esquire from 1996 for research and...well...
January 30, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Do you remember the big Richard Pryor / Michael Barrymore rivalry of the 1980s? Look-In does and somebody is not alwight at the back.
January 30, 2026 at 11:42 AM
According to this piece from The Scotsman in May 1982 Lorimer and Clark were returning to their old name in Scotland and used coal still to fire their boilers. Tangential but could be something if you didnt have it already.
January 30, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Today's Middle-Aged Teenage Angst Zinc is all about early demos of familiar indie / alternative songs. Its a beaut and also means I get to use this image again for the promo.

This Friday morning, 11am on @noiseboxradio.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Thanks @mealygarage.bsky.social for putting together #XTCmusic over at @xtclisteningparty.bsky.social. Learned quite a bit and its always good to have an excuse to listen to a great album in full. Might have to catch them live...wait, what?
January 28, 2026 at 9:54 PM
A review for the 3D EP and This Is Pop from - of course - Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:49 PM
"Is there a Son of Punk?", asks the Belfast News-Letter in February 1978. Peter Ustinov was sadly not available for comment. #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:26 PM
Are you forgetting this classic? 🤣#XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:25 PM
Peaked in 1976! :D #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:21 PM
The start of that article is pretty much perfect start as you mean to go on material...
January 28, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Love this image from a Melody Maker article in Jan 78. Almost unrecognisable as the act they'd become. #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:16 PM
An advert for "White Music" in the Melody Maker week of release. Its a bloody striking image, isnt it? #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Next up on February 2nd 1978 - two pieces from those hotbeds of journalism - Acton and Bracknell. #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Been digging through the newspaper archives for off the time stuff about "White Music". Earliest review I could find was in the Birmingham Mail, Saturday 21 January 1978 #XTCmusic
January 28, 2026 at 9:02 PM
What would make a young person open their mouth for a foamy post-nosh swosh? Well...
January 28, 2026 at 8:00 PM
New curse unlocked. And maybe a kink too.
January 27, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Well Monday has already beaten me but there'll be a radio show at 8pm on noiseboxradio.com anyway because I think we might both benefit from the distraction.
January 26, 2026 at 5:10 PM
January 26, 2026 at 10:06 AM
I also read it incorrectly and thought it was a hell of a claim to make.
January 24, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Poems in kids comics were always an interesting experience. Here are two from Tammy in the late 70s.
January 24, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Christ, dont give F*rage any ideas.
January 23, 2026 at 2:17 PM
Its good how the Thundercats could take time out of their busy fighting schedules to reply to children's missives.
January 23, 2026 at 12:21 PM
We were all doing The Snarf in Summer '89.
January 23, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Another hour of indie capers and alternative antics in "Middle-Aged Teenage Angst Zinc" at 11am on Friday morning. But actually good and not rubbish like that sounds.

noiseboxradio.com
January 23, 2026 at 8:56 AM
"Confessions of a Goofy Milkman" (1976, Disney, X)
January 21, 2026 at 9:32 AM